Tag: MEL

If you are reading my blog it should come as no surprise to you that travel is a big part of my life. I enjoy it. I also enjoy the perks that come with a lot of frequent travel and even strive to attain those perks. A few years ago, this took me right to the top echelons of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program when I attained Platinum One status. The year that followed was certainly worth it, in my eyes. This entry isn’t about aiming for that level again, as I just don’t have the time or money for that. However, I recently dropped back to Gold, having been a Platinum (or higher) frequent flyer member for the last 4-5 years. I was happy and ready to accept that fate, when a double status credit offer appeared in my inbox and suddenly all bets were off.

Over a long weekend in April I took 12 flights that placed me back in the Platinum arena for the next two years. Where I go from there is unknown and is not important. This entry serves as a record of that journey in pictoral form. I don’t think anyone needs to know what it cost, except to note it was extremely good value.

Over the weekend I took a trip down to Adelaide to see a friend and do some aircraft spotting. I also flew to Olympic Dam, to cross it off the list, as I do. I then flew across to Melbourne to have dinner with Sze Sze, catch up with friends there, and attend the Designing 007 (James Bond) exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. I then flew home.

That could be the end of my blog post, but I want to touch on a few things, as these flight were the first since achieving that coveted P1 status with Qantas.

To start with, all three mainline flights I was warmly greeted by the CSM once onboard, and a few things were noted, such as congratulations on my first flight for getting to P1, or an onboard upgrade to Business on flight two. And yes, you heard that right, an upgrade, and not even on a full flight, I had plenty of space where I was.

I brought along my flight log book, a new thing for me and that enabled further discussion with the crew, and I even had an FO come chat to me about airshows, as well as two invites to the cockpit when we’d landed.

So far, the extra level of service seems very focused and leaves me feeling good, and perhaps just a bit special, onboard.

That said, not a lot to say about the Olympic Dam flights, as they were operated by Alliance. Crew was friendly, but didn’t recognise me as anything out of the ordinary, though did recognise regulars, so I guess I just need to be a regular… unlikely to happen.